Goals and Resolutions
Goals and resolutions achievement is a process.
It is the beginning of the year and my Facebook feed is filling up with encouraging suggestions for the best way to set goals. One uses the acronym SMART. Specific, Manageable, Agreed upon, Realistic, and Time-based (measurable). You put yourself in a positive, enthusiastic state and use this SMART form to state your goals for the new year.
Then what? You’ve done what you were required to do. You wrote it. It has moved from ephemeral to concrete. The seed is planted. Now you can sit back and wait. Just “allow” the Universe to take care of the rest. After all, the Universe has everything it needs to fulfill our wishes, right? That’s a really convenient way to avoid doing the work that is necessary between goal setting and goal realization.
Make it happen, Number 1
Setting goals is just the first part for their manifesting.
If you leave them there in your lovely pristine garden of creative delights, that is where they will probably stay. Your garden, if I may continue with that metaphor, needs to be worked if your seedlings are to grow. It needs to be watered, nourished, cultivated and weeded, consistently. Your plants need to be pruned of any outliers that reroute the energy your plant needs. And if you take a vacation and leave it for a couple of weeks, your bright green seedlings will have withered back into their brown little stems.
Shadows of shadows
Working on our computers we’ve developed the habit of refreshing web pages and saving the data we are working on. We’ve learned the hard way that the alternative is exasperating. Your resolutions need constant updating, refinement, and reinforcement. We need to continuously restate our intentions. That will keep them fresh and vital. A resolution only lasts for 48-72 hours. The purity of the resolve soon diminishes. Or we forget about it entirely. Life happens. Other, more immediate events consume our bodies, minds and spirits. Write them and post them where you will see and read and state them every day.
I’ve walked into peoples bathrooms and seen the mirror covered with little post it notes. It makes great reading for guests. The affirmations are like pistachio nuts; I can’t stop with one. I have to read them all. By the time I’ve emerged from the toilet, I know way more than I need to, about what they want and the personal stuff they are working on.
Focus on what is the best for you.
Select one, maybe two, and focus your intention. I cannot agree with the SMART way to set and achieve goals. They are, by definition, self-limiting. If you can see the outcome, your vision is limited. If you set your expectations low, you will have a better chance of reaching them. That’s like awarding yourself a trophy for participating.
Maybe the easy way is the most effective way for most people. However, we are not most people. We know we grow when we are challenged. New muscles develop and get stronger only when we are strained; pushed beyond our comfort level.
Challenge yourself. Set unrealistic goals. Spectacular goals. Outrageous goals. Norman Vincent Peale is quoted as saying, “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.”
Visualize yourself two steps beyond what you think you can achieve. Describe them in terms of your already having achieved them, not that you want to achieve them. You already want them. That’s not a goal, that’s a description of your current condition. See yourself as that vision every day. Continue to learn and develop. Keep preparing. When you take your place in your new reality you will be ready.
Keep Dog Massage on your radar.
This newsletter is created for people who are excited about dog massage and bodywork. Our field is still new and uncharted. Plan now to include the training you need to be a Certified PetMassage practitioner. If you have already completed your Foundation training, resolve now to register for the PetMassage for Dogs Advanced Level workshop. This is the year you also become a Licensed PetMassageTM Instructor.
Practitioners, make the resolution to include PetMassage continuing education in your 2017 itinerary. Check you calendar today. Decide which courses you want to take and choose the month they are offered. And. plan now to travel to Toledo Ohio this July for the PetMassage 20th Anniversary party Student Reunion.
Member discounts
You may not have been aware that PetMassage™, an IAAMB/ACWT Preferred Educational Provider, offers members of the IAAMB/ACWT, International Association of Animal Massage and Bodywork/Association of Canine Water Therapy a 5% discount on PetMassage™ products and workshops.
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